ABSTRACT
Background: Familiarity breeds complacency. One case of sore throat can start to sound like another. However, even common viral and bacterial infections can lead to serious sequelae. Clinicians cannot make a diagnosis if they do not consider it in their differential.Case: The presentation - and subsequent hospitalization - of a septic 19 year-old male college student is described. Despite brief interval improvement, he became hypoxic one week after developing a sore throat and was ultimately diagnosed with Lemierre's syndrome (septic thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein) via blood cultures and advanced imaging.Conclusions: Though rare, Lemierre's syndrome carries a high mortality rate. It should be considered an emergent complication of head and neck infections, particularly in young adults.
Subject(s)
Lemierre Syndrome , Pharyngitis , Thrombophlebitis , Male , Young Adult , Humans , Adult , Lemierre Syndrome/complications , Lemierre Syndrome/diagnosis , Students , Universities , Thrombophlebitis/complications , Thrombophlebitis/diagnosis , Pharyngitis/complications , Pharyngitis/diagnosisABSTRACT
All-terrain vehicle (ATV) riding continues to be a major public health problem in West Virginia because the state leads the nation in the rate of deaths from ATV incidents and has significantly higher death rates than all five of the bordering states. Annually, there are 24 deaths a year in West Virginia due to ATV accidents and thousands of nonfatal injuries. Sporting events using ATVs such as motocross racing have added to the burden of caring for patients who are injured in recreational activities. We report a case study of 10 patients treated over an 18-hour period in a state trauma center for injuries received while riding ATVs casually and in competition. The addition of these 10 patients to the other 108 patients seen in the ED during this period totally disrupted patient flow, caused significant delays in care of the non-trauma patients, and tied up the Radiology Department and operating rooms for an extended period.
Subject(s)
Accidents, Traffic/statistics & numerical data , Off-Road Motor Vehicles/statistics & numerical data , Public Health , Trauma Centers/statistics & numerical data , Accidents, Traffic/mortality , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Competitive Behavior , Consumer Product Safety , Female , Humans , Male , Recreation , West Virginia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The finding of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare, potentially fatal illness that physicians often associate with young, menstruating females. However, TSS is not exclusively a disease of females. We report the unusual case of an adult male patient who presented to the Emergency Department at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown with toxic shock syndrome secondary from a fish tooth suffered while trout fishing. The diagnostic features of TSS and treatment are also discussed in this article.
